Rookie needing help

[jdmason]

Hi,

We are new to raising chickens in our backyard in Ontario, Canada. Our chickens will be a year old in August. Things had been going well until recently, one of our chickens died. She had diarrhea for a bit and I noticed her brown egg colour had gone much lighter before she died. She was always the skinnier/smaller of the 3, started laying eggs the latest, and always laid her eggs later in the day than the other 2. We have not been able to find any evidence of mites. I am especially concerned because one of our other chickens' eggs are getting lighter and today i found the egg smashed with a very weak looking shell. no diarrhea. the weather here is nice...not too warm. no new stress that i can think of (except of course for the other chicken dying). Can anyone please give me some advise on what to do next?

Thanks

 

[scratch'n'peck]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I have read that infectious bronchitis in chickens can affect eggs. But hopefully the hen who died just had some congenital problem that lead to a failure to thrive. Hopefully this other hen will be fine, but if she does fall ill and die you may want to consider getting a necropsy. University agricultural programs often offer them for low or no cost, I have read.[/FONT]

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, jdmason, and

! Great to have you with us! Sorry to hear about your loss. I hope it's just an isolated case but I think your post in the link below - I wouldn't want it to spread to the rest of your flock. Good luck to you!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/10/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures

 

[drumstick diva]

do your hens get layer feed ? If not maybe they need crushed eggshell to add calcium to their diet.

 

[jdmason]

yes they do get layer feed

 

[jdmason]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I have read that infectious bronchitis in chickens can affect eggs. But hopefully the hen who died just had some congenital problem that lead to a failure to thrive. Hopefully this other hen will be fine, but if she does fall ill and die you may want to consider getting a necropsy. University agricultural programs often offer them for low or no cost, I have read.[/FONT]

thanks for the info scratch 'n' peck...I hope it doesn't come to that though.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! Glad you joined us!